Job · Chapter 8

Explanation of the words of this response — 'Then Bildad the Shuhite answered, and said.'

Introduction to the Fourth Speech — Bildad's Response The Shuhite disputant chooses for himself a different method — one which, by his own account, he inherited as a tradition from his ancestors (v. 8). Like Eliphaz, he too believes in providence and freedom of choice; and like him, he too turns ‘a stubborn shoulder’ (cf. Zechariah 7:11) against the view of the astrologers. And since Job, in his response to Eliphaz, had been silent about these speculative matters, Bildad likewise contents himself with a single proof against one who denies providence — in that he says: ‘Does God pervert judgment?’ (v. 3). The explanation of this proof is that among the necessary conditions of Godhood is that every perfection be found in Him and every deficiency be removed from Him; and for injustice or perverted judgment to issue from Him would be a deficiency — and it is fitting that no such thing be found in Him. This too Bildad, the disputant, concedes; and Job as well made this the very foundation on which he built his arguments. The difference is that Job viewed the matter from the standpoint of individual justice, and reasoned as follows: for God to commit injustice is precluded by His very nature; yet the manifest governance of individuals is not ordered according to justice and righteousness, since we see that it makes no distinction between the righteous and the wicked — ‘all things come alike to all; as is the good, so is the sinner’ (Ecclesiastes 9:2) — all are subject to the accidents of time and its reversals. And since it is an injustice for evil to befall the righteous without cause, it follows that this governance cannot come from Hashem — for ‘far be it from God to do wickedness, and from the Almighty to act unjustly’ (cf. Job 34:10). He therefore concluded that this governance issues from a blind ruler with eyes shut — namely, the celestial order — which does not distinguish between one who serves God and one who does not. Bildad, however, reaches the opposite conclusion from the standpoint of primary, universal law. He reasons as follows: injustice must be precluded from Hashem because it is a deficiency, and by the same token absolute power must be attributed to Him because it is a perfection. Now, were we to say that Hashem handed the governance of the world over to a blind ruler who does not distinguish between good and evil, we might excuse the particular misfortunes that follow from this disorder by saying that they do not issue from Hashem Himself but from the officers of the celestial order who direct the governance of individuals. Even so, we could not justify Him from the standpoint of primary law. For we would have to ask: is it not itself an injustice on His part that He handed the governance over to the celestial order? And there are only two possible answers. Either we say that He lacks the power to exercise judgment in directing the governance of individuals — but this is impossible, since among the necessary conditions of Godhood is that absolute power be found in Him. This is what Bildad means when he asks: ‘Does God’ — that is, the One who possesses power and might — ‘pervert judgment?’ Or we say that He abandons the lowly and does not wish to attend to them, whether out of disdain or out of jealousy (following the classification set out by the Guide for the Perplexed, Part Three, ch. 16) — but this would run counter to justice. This is what Bildad means when he says: ‘Or does the Almighty pervert justice?’ This is a conclusive proof that the governance of individuals issues from His providence, and that the disorder that seems to us to appear in the sufferings of the righteous is a mistake on our part; for everything is ordered by Him in righteousness and justice, since ‘He is a faithful God, without iniquity’ (Deuteronomy 32:4). But then why does Hashem bring evils upon the righteous? Here Bildad turns to a different path. In his view, Hashem brings pains upon the righteous without any prior sin, solely in order to benefit him in the end, repaying him double the good in place of the evil — such that the evils come by way of exchange and compensation, so that through the present evil he will attain future good (vv. 6-7). And since, as the Sages are accustomed to say, man in many respects resembles a plant, Bildad explains that nature deals the same way with plants of every kind. A plant growing amid rocks, drought, and desolation — the gardener uproots it from its place and replants it somewhere fresh and fertile; and it is clear that this uprooting is not for harm but for good, so that he may plant it ‘as a noble vine’ (cf. Jeremiah 2:21). But not every plant is suited to this: plants that grow amid abundant water, moist and damp by nature, will not take root again once uprooted — on the contrary, they, more than any grass, will wither. The very same principle applies to the governance of man: the wicked person, accustomed to pleasures and luxuries, will not be uprooted from his place but will simply be taken from the world before his time — ‘no good shall be to the wicked’ (Ecclesiastes 8:13), nor will he live long. The righteous person, however, is sometimes uprooted from his place, dispossessed of his property, and afflicted in body — but this is for his own good, to replant him ‘in a sure place’ (cf. Isaiah 22:23); he ‘shall yet bring forth fruit in old age’ (Psalms 92:15), shall see offspring, shall live long, and ‘the purpose of Hashem shall prosper in his hand’ (Isaiah 53:10) (vv. 11-20). He therefore advises him to hold fast to his stronghold, trust in Hashem, and plead with Him — for then, in place of his sufferings, his portion will sing for joy, and his end will prosper exceedingly (v. 17; vv. 21-22).

Bildad’s Address a mighty wind Many words. mighty Heb. כביר, an expression of multiplicity.

'Mighty' — that is, great, and likewise 'and I have brought down like a mighty one' (Isaiah 10:13); the alef is an added letter.

'The words of your mouth are as a mighty wind' — meaning: how can you let so mighty a wind out of your mouth against Hashem, may He be blessed? Do you imagine that thereby you can shatter the mountain-like truths of the belief concerning providence?

"How long" — how long will you go on speaking these things? Surely the words of your mouth will be reckoned as nothing but a violent blast of anger.

"And wind" — Its meaning here is anger, as in "they have set My anger at rest" (Zechariah 6:8). "Mighty" — Strong, as in "behold, God is mighty" (Job 36:5).

‘How long will you speak these things’ — mere words of wind. As for your conclusion that Hashem handed the governance over to the celestial order, which does not distinguish between good and evil — I will answer you:

Does God pervert judgment Heb. הא-ל. The “hey” is vowelized with a “patach,” and it means an expression of wonder.

"Does God" — does God pervert judgment by failing to give the wicked punishment according to their due? And does He pervert justice by failing to give the righteous the reward of their merit? How then can you say that He has handed everything over to the workings of the celestial order, so that the righteous and the wicked would fare alike?

‘Does God pervert judgment?’ — would this not be an injustice within God's own nature, or a deficiency in power, as was explained in the introduction? But ‘Hashem is righteous and upright, and there is no injustice’ (cf. Deuteronomy 32:4), for —

He sent them away in the hands of their transgression Through their transgression. (The transgression) became the agent to carry them off.

'If your children sinned against Him' — some say this is said by way of moral rebuke, but I do not know why it should be needed.

"If your children" — meaning: see that things do not happen by chance, but by providence, according to just recompense. For when your children sinned by their continual feasting, which leads to frivolity, He then banished them from the world at the very place of their transgression — for they died in the house of feasting, in the very place of the wrongdoing; there was the judgment.

"He delivered them" — [Meaning] He drove them away, as in "send [them] away from My presence" (Jeremiah 15:1). The prefixed vav ("and") here stands in place of "then"; so too, "If you walk in My statutes... then I will give..." (Leviticus 26:3), meaning: then I will give, etc. "Into the hand of" — [Here it means] in the place of, as in "Absalom's Monument" [lit. "the hand of Absalom"] (2 Samuel 18).

‘If your children sinned against Him’ — as for your sons, I cannot say that they were made to suffer by way of exchange, in order to increase their reward, since they have died and are gone. But concerning them you cannot conclude that they did not sin — surely they did sin against Him, as you yourself said: ‘Perhaps my sons sinned’ (cf. Job 1:5). Therefore, ‘He delivered them into the hand of their transgression’ — He delivered them into the very hand of their own transgression: it was precisely while they were eating and drinking — the moment of their transgression, when they ‘blasphemed God in their hearts’ — that the house fell upon them and they died. This is measure for measure, in keeping with what is right and just. But as for you, who claim that you are righteous — I will answer you:

If you seek God etc., He will arouse your merit over you.

"If you..." — meaning: from this you should learn: if you will seek Hashem earnestly, that He show you mercy, and plead with Him to remove your guilt —

‘If you would seek earnestly to God, and make your supplication to the Almighty’ — then:

and will complete your righteous home And He will make your righteous home complete and perfect.

'Make the habitation of your righteousness prosperous' — that is, the soul. 'Prosperous' — from 'peace' or from 'recompense'; and the word 'in' is missing before 'the habitation of your righteousness.'

'Surely now He would awake for you' — meaning: behold, He would arouse good on your behalf; or perhaps the sense is that He would exult over you. In this vein, some commentators likewise explained the word 'exulted' in 'or exulted when evil found him' (Job 31:29) in the sense of rejoicing. 'Prosperous' [lit. 'complete'] — meaning: He would establish it in peace. 'The habitation of your righteousness' — meaning: your soul, for the soul is the dwelling-place and abode of righteousness.

"If pure" — meaning: if you act with purity and uprightness of heart, not with deceit, then your reward will not be withheld; for from now on He will arouse His mercy, and will make the habitation of your righteousness whole and complete, supplying all your want — for He pays a just reward.

"Pure" — An expression of purity and clarity.

‘If you were pure and upright’ — if what you say is true, that you are pure and upright, then it will become clear to you that what has now brought these sufferings upon you is not due to His wrath, nor to the hiding of His face and the withdrawal of His providence — but the very opposite: it is now, through these very sufferings, that ‘He would awake for you’; and through the sufferings themselves He will bring to completion the dwelling of your righteousness, establishing your abode in the full perfection befitting your righteousness. And the fruit of these sufferings will be this: for —

And your beginning shall be small Your beginning, which has passed, shall be small as compared to your end, which shall increase exceedingly.

"Though your beginning was small" — the good you had at the beginning of your days will be reckoned as little, for the good that will be yours in your latter days will grow so very great that the good you once had will forever be reckoned as small by comparison.

"Small" — [Meaning] little, as in "is it not a little one?" (Genesis 19:20). "Should increase" — [Meaning] should grow great, as in "like a cedar in Lebanon, it shall grow tall" (Psalms 92:13).

And though your beginning was small — for through this your end will greatly increase: the sufferings that were brought upon you without sin were meant to benefit you in the end, and to establish you for renown and glory.

about the past generation About the past generation, like (Deut. 4:32), “For inquire now about the earlier times.” and apply yourself Apply and prepare yourself to understand what their fathers have searched out.

"For inquire, I pray you" — now inquire of the former generation, and set your mind to what their fathers investigated and handed down to them.

"Rishon" — [An alternate spelling,] the same as "rishon" [first/former].

For inquire, I pray you, of the former generation — he informs Job that this doctrine, that the sufferings of the righteous serve as a kind of exchange to increase his honor in the end, is a tradition handed down from the first generation, who received it from their own fathers, who had investigated and studied this matter thoroughly.

"For we are but of yesterday" — we are so young in years, as though we were born just yesterday, and we do not know all that has happened, so as to bring proof from direct experience. "Because our days ... are a shadow" — like a shadow, which does not remain long in one place but shifts from its place as the sun moves, so too we were born only recently, and not much time has yet passed.

"Tamol" — [The same as] "etmol," meaning yesterday.

For we are but of yesterday — for it is impossible for us to ascertain the truth of this matter through observation and trial, since such verification can come only with the passage of many days and a long time; and we were only recently born, and our days are like a shadow that swiftly passes. It is impossible to know everything in so short a time; rather, we must rely on the tradition passed down from generation to generation, from those who tested these things over the course of many days and events. Therefore —

'Shall not they' — he returns to the theme of inquiring of their fathers.

"Shall they not teach you" — they will teach you and tell you what they received from their fathers, who investigated the matters that became known to them through direct experience. "Out of their heart" — they will also bring forth, from their own understanding, words that they worked out with their own intellect, based on what they received from their fathers.

Shall not they teach you, and tell you — they will tell you what is held as tradition among them, and beyond this will also bring forth words of their own heart, to show you by way of a parable drawn from the nature of plants.

Can papyrus shoot up They will say this: Papyrus cannot grow except when the marsh is wet with its water and its moisture. בִצָה is marese in Old French, a marsh.

'Without mire' — like 'its swamps and marshes' (Ezekiel 47:11). 'The reed-grass' — its meaning is marsh plants, as in 'and fed in the reed-grass' (Genesis 41:2).

'Shoot up' — meaning: grow tall. 'Mire' — meaning: mud. 'Reed-grass' — meaning: the plant that grows in the marshland (achu).

"Can the rush shoot up" — and this is what they will tell you: can the papyrus plant grow tall without moist mud? Can the reed-grass grow without water? Surely their way is to grow only where there is water, so that abundant moisture and a flow of wetness may reach them.

"Shall shoot up" — [Meaning] shall grow tall, as in "for the waters had risen" (Ezekiel 47:5). "Mire" — Wet mud, as in "your feet are sunk in the mire" (Jeremiah 38:22). "Reed-grass" — The name of a certain plant, as in "and they grazed in the reed-grass" (Genesis 41).

Can the rush shoot up without mire? — the papyrus-reed and the marsh-reed cannot grow without moist, wet soil and the presence of water, because of their moist and soft nature. Now, at the time when —

in its greenness In its moisture and with its produce. will not be plucked Heb. יקטף, will not be broken or pulled off; like (Deut. 23:26), “you may pluck (וקטפת) ears.” but before any other grass it will dry up Before any other grass [does], it will dry up when the water evaporates and the marsh dries up.

'In its greenness' — in the place of its growth. 'And not cut down' — even if no one cuts it, it withers on its own.

'While it is yet in its greenness, and not cut down' — meaning: while it is still in its freshness, its moisture, and its vigor, so that it would not yet be fitting to pluck or cut it down — nevertheless it withers quickly before any other grass, even while its moisture and the nourishment that feeds it are still present. Or perhaps the sense of his words 'not cut down' is: it withers even without being cut down at all.

"While it is yet in its greenness" — while it still has its proper moisture, it will not break; but once the moisture stops, its way is to dry up before any other herb, for the very abundance of moisture within it is the cause of its drying up quickly once that moisture leaves it.

"In its greenness" — Meaning, in the moisture proper to it according to the nature of that plant; similarly, "the budding growth of the valley" (Song of Songs 6), i.e., the moist plants of the valley. "Cut down" — [Meaning] cut off and broken, as in "a tender twig I will pluck" (Ezekiel 17).

— while it is yet in its greenness, its moisture not yet gone, it is not cut down, for it is very sturdy. And yet, it is precisely the great abundance of moisture and water within it that causes it to wither before any other herb — for once the flow of moisture is cut off, or the summer heat changes, it dries up and perishes; whereas ordinary grass, which does not need so much moisture, endures for a much longer time.

So are the ways of all those who forget God to prosper when it goes well with him until his measure [of sin] is full. and the hope the end of the flatterer will be lost.

"So are the paths" — such is the way of all who forget Hashem: even though at the time of their success they are filled with good, yet when the day of reckoning comes, each one's hope is lost swiftly and quickly.

"The godless" — This is the name given to the wicked person, because he flatters his own [evil] impulse and indulges its enticements.

So are the paths of all who forget God — they are like the papyrus-reed and the marsh-reed, sated with pleasures and luxuries, whose beginning prospers so that they attain the desires of their eyes; and in this too they resemble the marsh-reed, for the hope of the godless man shall perish, and his success will not last long. This is because, at the time when —

whose confidence shall be cut off His confidence and his trust Will be cut off confidence Heb. כסלו. That is the thought of his confidence. like (below 31:24), “If I put my confidence (כסלי) in gold. יקוט is an expression of cutting off; as (Ezek. 16:47): “for after a very little while (קט).” a spider’s web which does not last, is his trust.

'Whose confidence' — the Gaon explained it as referring to the cord of the sun, a sunbeam, but this is far-fetched. Rather, it is from 'and you shall loathe yourselves' (Ezekiel 20:43); and the meaning of 'his confidence' is his reliance, as in 'if I have made gold my confidence' (Job 31:24).

'Is gossamer' [lit. 'shall be cut off'] — meaning: it shall be severed, in the sense of 'and you shall loathe yourselves' (Ezekiel 20:43). 'Confidence' — meaning: his trust, as in 'that they might put their confidence in God' (Psalms 78:7). 'A spider's web' — this is the house that the spider weaves; and the parable is that this wicked man's house is like the spider's house, testifying to its frailty.

"Whose confidence is gossamer" — for then his confidence will be cut off, and it is like a spider's web, which does not endure.

"Shall be cut off" — [Meaning] shall be severed, as in "and they shall loathe themselves" (Ezekiel 6). [Source cites ch. 7; the phrase is verified in Ezekiel 6:9 - likely a scan/citation slip.] "His confidence" — His trust, as in "is not your fear of God your confidence" (Job 4:6). "A spider" — [I.e.,] the semamith [a spider].

Whose confidence is gossamer — his confidence and trust, which are like a spider's web, are cut off and severed; the moment things falter even slightly, he finds no strength left in his hand. So too, at the time when —

'He shall lean upon his house' — he thinks to rely on the strength of his house, [believing] that no one who would harm him can do so; but it shall not stand, and it shall not endure. 'He shall hold fast thereby' — meaning: he holds himself fast to it, thinking himself strong on account of the strength of the house he relies on; but it shall not rise, and it shall not endure.

"He shall lean" — even though he leans on the strength of his house to fortify himself by it, it will not stand for him; and even though he grasps it firmly, it will not endure in his hand, for it will be lost to him once the reward due for the little good he did is exhausted. So the very abundance of his good fortune becomes, for him, a cause of harm, hastening his ruin — just as the very abundance of moisture in the papyrus and the reed-grass is the cause of their drying up quickly.

He shall lean upon his house — yet nevertheless it shall not stand. That is, it is not merely that it will fail to endure once he is uprooted from his house (as he will later say regarding the sufferings of the righteous, which are compared to a tree replanted from one place to another — for the papyrus-reed and marsh-reed cannot grow again once they are moved from the place of their growth and replanted elsewhere); rather, even while he still leans upon his house, in all this it shall not stand, and even if he wishes to hold fast to his house with all his strength, in all this it shall not endure.

It is fresh His fortune is moist and strong before the time of the visitation of the heat plague—which dries him out—comes to him. And because he [Bildad] compares him [the wicked] to the papyrus, he speaks according to that metaphor. and on its garden its tender branch emerges Heb. יונקתו, its root that draws sustenance, or a young branch that grows this year, like (Ezek. 17: 22), “I will pluck from the top of his young twigs (ינקותיו).”

'He is green before the sun' — before the sun rises; and the Targum renders 'moist' as 'moistened.' 'Over his garden' — the matter is stated twice, that is, in parallel.

'He is green before the sun' — meaning: that plant is moist and fresh, and the sun looks upon it; hence it grows so abundantly that its shoots spread out over its garden, in which it is planted — that is, shoots come forth for it from its roots.

"He is green" — and regarding the misfortunes of the righteous, they will offer a parable, saying: behold a fresh tree, moist even as it stands facing the sun, its branches spreading over the whole garden in which it is planted.

"Moist" — [Meaning] damp. "His shoots" — His tender branches, as in "and he shot up like a sapling before Him" (Isaiah 53:2).

He is green — Not so the plant that does not need much water or great moisture, but rather stays green and fresh even standing before the sun, unharmed by the dryness that the sun brings; and also his shoots go forth over his garden, for it needs no marsh or moist ground but grows in any garden whatsoever. Now that plant, at the time when —

are entwined Will be entwined with the branch and with the thicket. a stone house He sees a strong place and builds it for himself as a stronghold. Menachem, however explains יֶחֶזֶה as an expression of a border: will border him; he will build it up to his border. [Perlow ed, reads: on his border.] Likewise (Ps. 107:30), “their desired haven.” Likewise (I Kings 7:4), “an edge to an edge (מחזה אל מחזה)” (Machbereth Menachem p. 86). All these are before his plague.

'About the heap' — like 'a heap of stones' (cf. Joshua 7:26). 'He beholds' — that is, it becomes entangled, as in 'a conspicuous horn' (Daniel 8:5).

'His roots are wrapped about the heap' — meaning that over a heap of water its roots become entangled, until, from the abundance of its nourishment, its roots branch out among the rocks of the crag; and 'he beholds' [the place of stones] carries the sense of 'is entangled,' comparable to 'a conspicuous horn' (Daniel 8:5).

"About the heap" — its roots take hold beside a spring of water, and it stands at the border of a house of stones — and this is what lends the tree its beauty.

"The heap" — [Meaning] a spring, as in "springs of water" (Joshua 15). "Are wrapped about" — [Meaning] cling fast, as in "like tangled thorns" (Nahum 1). "He beholds" — An expression of a region or boundary, as in "their desired haven" (Psalms 107). [Source cites ch. 106; the phrase is verified in Psalms 107:30 - likely a scan/citation slip.]

His roots are wrapped about the heap — when its roots become entangled with one another and cannot spread out because of a heap of stones lying beside their roots; or it cannot spread out because he beholds the place of stones, meaning its border lies close to a house of stones, and the stones of that house, which lie at its border, hold back its roots from spreading — then —

If one destroys him from his place the one who requites him, and this is an elliptical verse. then it shall deny him his place [shall deny him]. ‘I have not seen you,’ For neither root nor branch shall remain of him, and it will be as though he had never existed, for his fall shall not ascend like the downfall of the righteous—for the righteous will fall and rise, but this one will fall without rising.

'If he be destroyed' — as if another had swallowed him up, and as if he had never been seen.

'If he be destroyed' [lit. 'swallows him up'] — meaning: it uproots him and removes him, until the tree is disowned from its place, and [the place] says, 'I have not seen you' — meaning that no trace whatsoever remains there.

"If he be destroyed" — if the waters should ruin it, uprooting it from its place. "Then it shall deny him" — meaning, they will uproot it together with all its roots, so that no remnant at all is left, until the very place where the tree stood denies it, as if to say, 'I have never seen you' — because no trace of it remains there at all; and this is a figure of speech.

"It swallows him up" — [Meaning] destroys him.

If he be destroyed from his place — if the owner of the garden should uproot it from its place, so that the very place where it once grew would deny it, saying, 'I have not seen you' — meaning, he uproots it from there entirely.

Behold this is the joy of his way Of the wicked man, for all his joy and also his success will end up without hope. and from the earth, others will spring forth And people who were until now bent down to the ground will spring forth. others Another man will spring forth to receive the greatness of this one, as we find (Eccles. 2:26): “and to the sinner He has given the task...” Therefore, you should know about yourself, if you were wicked, you will not rise after your downfall. If you were innocent...

'Behold, this is' — this is its choicest way and the pattern of its offshoots; and this is a parable for the wicked, that they will not endure.

"Behold, this is the joy of his way" — meaning, although it appears that the tree has been ruined, this is not so; rather, this is the joy of the tree's course, for from the different soil in which it is now planted, shoots will spring up for it in a more complete way. For such is the way of certain plants, that they become more complete when uprooted from their place and replanted elsewhere. If so, this seeming evil is in fact a benefit — and likewise, the misfortune of the righteous is to be reckoned for their good, even though we cannot know how, owing to the limits of our understanding.

"His way" — An expression of order and conduct.

Behold — this uprooting is the joy of its way: it rejoices over this uprooting and over the process of being carried from its place to another, for from different soil, where there are no stones and roots, its roots will spring up without hindrance. So this uprooting turns out to be for its own good. And this is a parable for the righteous man, who was never accustomed to excess, who stays moist and stands firm in his righteousness even before the sun, for he is prepared to withstand the trial. When Hashem wishes to raise his glory high and light his lamp, and sees that in the place and rank where he is now planted there are obstacles and hindrances preventing him from rising to the greatness prepared for him, then Hashem uproots him from his place, lays waste his dwelling, and demolishes his house, so that even the pillars of his body totter — yet this is only for his good, for through this Hashem replants him anew in a more choice place, and makes him a banner among the nations, in a place and rank where his roots can spread and his shoots go forth, so that he becomes like a flourishing olive tree. All of this is for his good and his success. — Now he explains what follows from his system, namely — Behold, God will not cast away an innocent man — meaning, it is impossible for the sufferings of the righteous to be for his harm; neither will He uphold the evildoers — meaning, it is impossible for the prosperity of the wicked to be for his good. Rather —

Behold God will not reject the innocent and He will not uphold your enemies who are harming you, until He returns to grant you clemency, and [then] He will fill your mouth with laughter.

'Neither will He uphold the evil-doers' — He will not take hold of them to save them from misfortune; rather, He brings misfortune upon them — in the sense of 'and the men laid hold upon his hand' (Genesis 19:16). Explanation of the words of the response: Bildad the Shuhite answered and said: How long will you speak such harsh words, as if against God, and let a mighty wind go out of your mouth, as if against Him? Does Hashem pervert justice? There is no doubt that everything He does, He does in justice and righteousness. Now, if your children sinned against Him, He sent them off and removed them from the world for their transgressions. But if you seek earnestly to God, that He have mercy on you, and beseech Him to forgive you should you have sinned — or if, as you now claim, you are pure and upright — then He will bring good to you now, and establish you securely in peace, and the evil that He has brought upon you will be turned to good. This is because Bildad held — as becomes clear from his own words — that evils befall good people who have no prior sin or rebellion to their account, in order to add further good to them in what is to come; and that what we reckon to be evil is in fact good, only we do not grasp the full measure of divine wisdom that made the arrival of this good necessary by such means. As for the innocent who do carry some slight prior lapse, minor evils come upon them, and when they return to Hashem, these evils are transformed into good. He then begins to note the difference between the evils that come upon the wicked and the evils that come upon the good, and between the goods that come to the good and the goods that come to the wicked. For the goods that come to the wicked are, in truth, evils, even though we cannot judge in what way they are evils; and the evils that reach the good are, in truth, goods, even though we cannot judge this either — owing to our limited grasp of divine wisdom. He then brings a proof from received tradition. He says: Inquire, I pray you, of the former generation, and apply yourself to what their fathers have searched out — for in this matter we must accept their testimony, since we are but of yesterday and cannot know, in our own brief span, matters that require a long stretch of time to establish by direct experience, on account of the shortness of our days. Surely they will teach you the truth, and tell you what became known to them by experience, together with what they derived by reasoning. Behold, the rush cannot grow without mire — meaning that it requires abundant moisture — and reed-grass cannot flourish without water constantly irrigating it; and while this plant is still in its moist, green freshness, before it is even cut or plucked, it withers before any other plant withers. So it is with those who forget God: evil will reach them that destroys them utterly, right where they stand, even while they suppose themselves to be at peace — indeed, the hope of the wicked perishes; his hope is cut off, and the house in which he trusts — for all its apparent strength — proves as flimsy as a spider's web, the flimsiest thing there is; he leans on the strength of his house and imagines he will find security in it, but he does not endure in that house. In sum, everything that might serve him as support is lost to him, just as the reed-grass and the rush wither suddenly once the moisture that nourished them departs. Since this is so, the goods of the wicked are, in truth, evils — though we do not know in what way they are evils, and for that reason we are astonished when we see such goods reaching the wicked. Having set out this parable, showing that the goods of the wicked are evils, he goes on to bring a parable and analogy for the evils of the righteous — how it is possible for them to actually be goods. He says: the tree that is fresh and green stands where the sun can see it, and its young shoots spring forth from its roots over the garden in which it is planted, on account of its abundant growth; its roots wind around the heap by the water, until, from the abundance of its nourishment, its roots branch out even among the rocks of the crag. Now if someone were to uproot it completely from its place, so that no trace of it remained there at all — this very uprooting of the tree from that place is the joy of its way. For once it is planted in different soil, shoots will grow for it more fully than they would have growing in the first place, and its roots will branch out and intertwine even more. And this is a thing plainly evident to observation, that some plants grow more completely once uprooted from their place and transplanted elsewhere. So too with the misfortunes of the blameless and the upright: what we take to be evils are not evils at all, but are, in truth, goods. In sum, Hashem does not despise the blameless man; rather, He watches over him and preserves him continually, and He does not save the wicked from the evils He has brought upon them — as He does for the innocent who carry some slight prior lapse. His point is that when such people return to Hashem, He will save them from that evil, and it will be turned for them into good. So then, if you were to do as I say — to seek earnestly to God and beseech Him — good would come to you, until your mouth is filled with laughter from the good that comes to you from another quarter, and your lips filled with shouting from great joy; those who hate you would be clothed with shame, and the tent of the wicked would be torn down. This is the explanation of the words of the response. The general principle that emerges from these words is that Bildad's view was that all the goods and evils that befall a person are bounded and ordered by Hashem in righteousness and justice — nothing falls out by chance — and that what strikes us as bad ordering in a person's goods and evils stems only from the limits of our own understanding. For when evils come upon the innocent, they are, in their very essence, goods; we simply do not know in what way they are goods. He illustrated this with a parable from plants: some of them are, so to speak, ruined — uprooted from their place — and this is in fact good for them, since their growth in another location will be better. So too are the misfortunes of the righteous. And the goods of the wicked are, in truth, evils, since through them the wicked are wiped out and perish, and the abundance of good in their possession does not avail them — just as with the grasses of the reed-bed, which wither even while moisture and freshness are still present with them. Now, it does not appear from his words in this book that he equates man, in this respect, with the other living creatures. For sin, transgression, forgetting God, flattery, and blamelessness, as he speaks of them, are found only in man among all the other living creatures, since these other creatures cannot be characterized by such terms — one cannot say of them that they are evildoers, or flatterers, or forgetful of God, or blameless. And it is clear that one who grants that Hashem watches over human individuals and holds them accountable for all their deeds in righteousness and justice is not thereby obligated to grant that the same is true of the individuals of the other living creatures — for perhaps, in his view, man is distinct in this respect by virtue of possessing intellect, and is therefore all the more deserving of being held accountable for all his deeds. However, one who grants that Hashem watches over the other living creatures, such that nothing befalls them except by justice, would indeed be obligated to grant the same regarding human individuals — for this providence extends all the more to whatever is more noble, as has been explained in the Book of Animals. In general, one ought not to attribute to a person a flaw in his views beyond what we find plainly stated in his own words, or what necessarily follows from them. For this reason we did not agree that Bildad's view on providence was the same as the view of the Mu'tazilite school, as Maimonides, of blessed memory, states. I think that what led Maimonides to attribute this view to Bildad is what he found among the opinions on providence current among the well-known thinkers of his own day; and since he perceived some affinity between Bildad's view and that of the Mu'tazilite school, he attributed the Mu'tazilite view to Bildad on that basis. In general, if the views of the men Maimonides mentions correspond to the full range of mutually exclusive positions found on this question, then it would indeed be proper to interpret the words of these men in a way that accords with those views, even where the plain sense of their words does not clearly indicate that they held that particular view. But it is clear that the range of views held by the Mu'tazilite school and the Ash'ariyya arose out of the dialectical positions maintained by the Kalam theologians, who grounded their views in the doctrine of the world's creation; and it is not proper to count those views among the full range of mutually exclusive positions on this question, since such views would not occur to the mind as a first possibility, and true speculative inquiry rules them out. For this reason, in this commentary of ours, we have followed what the plain sense of these men's words indicates; and it appears to us from their words that their views do correspond to the full range of mutually exclusive positions on this question, as determined by the division recognized by those skilled in speculative inquiry. We will explain, God willing, in what follows, how the views of these men are found to correspond to that range of mutually exclusive positions on this question. Now, Bildad's view, even though it runs counter to what is observed, does have some basis in appearances. For it often happens that evil reaches a person, and it becomes clear in the end that this was in fact the cause of some good coming to him, or of protecting him from a still greater evil; and it often happens that goods reach a person, and it becomes clear in the end that these were the cause of some evil befalling him, or of preventing him from attaining some still greater good.

"Behold, God" — for God will not reject an innocent man to do him harm without some ultimate good in view; just as He will not uphold evildoers to do them good without some ultimate evil awaiting them.

"Till He fills" — meaning, so too He will not reject you, and your end will be great, until He fills your mouth with laughter and your lips with the shout of joy, on account of the abundance of good that will come to you.

"Yimaleh (with a heh)" — [This spelling is] the same as "yimale" [fills], [ordinarily] spelled with an aleph.

(Verses 21-22) — until the time arrives when He will fill your mouth with laughter, so that you will rejoice over the sufferings you bore, since you will receive good in their place. By that time, meanwhile, your enemies shall be clothed with shame, for the tent of the wicked shall be laid waste; and then you shall flourish like the palm tree, and you shall see the ruin of the wicked.

‘Those who hate you’ — those who rejoice at your calamity and love your misfortune will be clothed with shame when they see you prospering. ‘And the tent’ — but the tent of the wicked will be lost, with no return to its former state; not so your tent, for it will be restored and reestablished as before. (What emerges from this response is that Bildad’s view matches Eliphaz’s — that everything comes about through providence; and he proves this from the death of Job’s sons at the house of feasting: judgment struck at the very place of wickedness. He voices his own opinion, that the prosperity of the wicked serves an evil end, like the excess moisture given to some plants; and that even the suffering of the righteous should be counted for good, like the uprooting of some plants — though, from the limits of our understanding, we cannot know how. He also means to comfort Job by telling him that his end will be great.)